Steve Popper: Jalen Brunson, the captain, steadied ship for Knicks when they needed it most

GREENBURGH — Just as they were running across nearly every network and social media feeds of all sorts on Wednesday, the series of highlights that Jalen Brunson put on display in the fourth quarter in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals will run like a loop through the minds of Knicks fans for as long as they can muster the memories to recount the tale.

But what might get lost to the embers of time is what preceded it, the image of Brunson stepping in front of his teammates during a timeout in the third quarter and animatedly urging — maybe something angrier than urging — them to get focused, to push harder and not let go of the rope. That might not even last to the time that the Knicks take the court again at Madison Square Garden for Game 2 Thursday night, but it should.

There are plenty of stars in the NBA, plenty of shotmakers or soaring, athletic players who can’t be stopped. Consider the player who provided the heroics the night before in the Western Conference Finals opener — Victor Wembanyama, a generational combination of skill and size. But there are just a handful of those stars who are captains, and fewer who have grown up in NBA gyms with their ferocity forged in lessons from a father who fought to find a place on the fringes of NBA rosters for nine seasons — all on one-year contracts.

As much as the Knicks needed the on-court heroics Tuesday night, they needed belief and faith, whether it came from Brunson or from all of the veterans on the roster.

“He’s a leader. He’s our guy,” Mike Brown said. “And he felt we need to play faster. He felt we needed to be better defensively. There were a couple things that he felt, and he made sure that we knew and our guys responded to him.”

“Just keep fighting, keep chipping away,” Brunson said of the huddle talks. “We’re not going to get it back in one possession. Most importantly, sticking together. No matter how that game finished habits translate. They can translate to the next game. So finishing that game strong, regardless of whatever is going on, making sure we have the right habits, so when we go into the next game we’re doing what we’re doing. We’re not just giving up. We don’t want to give up ever. Just having faith in each other.”

It is easier to have that faith when you have a captain who can do those magical things on the court, who was named the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year last season and who still performs the magic when called upon.

Maybe that’s part of that leadership, too. The push by Brunson Tuesday night came in the huddles, but it was easy to see on the court, too, when the Knicks were trailing by 22 points in the fourth quarter and Brunson clearly was taking the game in his hands, attacking Cleveland’s James Harden relentlessly. He hunted the veteran star for switches and lifted the Knicks — as well as the 19,812 fans at Madison Square Garden (or at least most of them who hadn’t headed out to beat traffic) — back into the game.

If you watched the game you saw Donovan Mitchell star for the first three quarters, piling up all 29 of his points before the final seven minutes of regulation — then going scoreless through the Knicks comeback and the overtime session. Mitchell is an immensely talented player and one who deservedly is compared to Brunson as an offensive force. But one player dragged their team to the victory while the other disappeared down the stretch. That doesn’t make Mitchell a lesser player, but there was something missing that Mitchell still has to prove as he tries to drag the Cavs to the NBA Finals.

Brunson was the one for the Knicks when they were down and maybe the only one until the final minutes — scoring 11 straight points in an 18-1 run in the fourth quarter. But the Knicks have a veteran squad and no one bristled at his words, instead following along.

“I feel like we all kind of do that and that’s just kind of the make-up of our team,” Josh Hart said after Wednesday’s practice. “He does that a little bit more in the huddle. Other guys kinda do that at different times throughout the game whether it’s in the huddle or pulling guys to the side during a dead ball or free throws. That’s what you need in the playoffs and adverse situations — for guys to talk and hold each other accountable kind of to steady the ship”

“I love it,” Brown said. “The teams I’ve been around that have had a lot of success, they usually have accountability within their group because that goes a lot further than me yelling and saying stuff at times.”

Although few teams may have a captain, the Knicks have had many. Brunson is the 36th in the team’s history. But what he has in common with just a few of them is that he has been able to lift the franchise deep into the playoffs. Tuesday, he brought them one step closer to reaching the goal that the Knicks are chasing, a long elusive NBA title.

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.